Rusty Handgun Thread

S

Safestuffer

New member
Hi,
Lets see your rustiest, crustiest, most pitted handgun you have, and the story on how it got that way and why you still have it!
Mine is an Army Special that I bid on only because I wanted the grips, as they were original and SOMEHOW pristine even though the rest of the gun looked like it was raised from the Titanic. I paid less for the gun, shipping, and transfer, than I would have for the same set of grips alone off Ebay.
When the gun came in it was ROUGH. Orange was the most prevalent color. The cylinder latch pin was broken and the cylinder hard to open. However, broken latch pin aside, the gun was very tight and crisp. The bore was surprisingly good.
So I decided to save her. New grips, a new latch pin, some minor filing on the cylinders to correct some peening from the broken latch pin, and some work with steel wool and oil, and she was shooting once again.

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How about yours?
 
That's after being scrubbed with steel wool and clp to get the orange crust off. There's a little pitting in the bore, but it still shoots great with wadcutters!
 
This is about as rusty as it gets around here.....

ry%3D480


My dad had the Marine MP detachment in Wilmington NC back in the early 60's, and took this off someone while at work. It sat in his drawer until he died, and was never fired by us. It was loaded when he got it. I found a couple of others like it in that drawer, and none of them I would risk shooting. Mostly .32-.38 caliber junkers that are way out of time and in rough shape barrel/cylinder wise.

I also found this one in the same drawer, and after finally figuring out what caliber it was (.32 S&W) and rounding stuff up, I have been shooting it (black powder loads), as other than some light rust on the finish, its tight and times up well. Shoots about 6" off POA at 10' though. :)

ry%3D400
 
1849 Colt plowed up by my grandfather in a field here around 1942. It still has five loaded chambers, and one completely intact cap on one nipple. It hung on the wall at the old farm house for many years, until one day someone was looking it over and said, "There's something scratched into the butt". Under magnification, it clearly says, "C Smith April 29 1861". With the advent of modern computer data bases, I've been able to find three pieces of correspondence from a C Smith to his boss, Nat Stein, who was an Overland Stage agent based out of Virginia City, Montana Territory at the time, and the signatures on the letters are a spot-on match to the scribing on the butt. These three letters were "posted" from Horse Prairie Station, Red Rock Station, and Junction Station, Montana Territory, all three of which I've located on maps of present day southwest Montana.
The hammer is free, the trigger is free, the loading lever is free and even still has its latch spring intact. The cylinder is rusted onto the base pin, or it could probably be made to shoot again.

 
Not a revolver, but buy far and away the crustiest gun I own:

1914 US Springfield Armory 1911. Caught while fishing in a lake in 1962.

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This is a surprisingly interesting thread, so I'm going to call an audible and make it a general handguns thread for showing all of your rustbuckets...
 
These pictures and the stories behind them are amazing. I especially enjoy the old cap and ball revolver plowed up by jbar4ranch's grandfather, and the 1911 caught while fishing in a lake.

Makes you wonder how those firearms got to the places they were found.
 
I grabbed up and NORINCO 213 a few days ago. It looked not so good with the beginning to brown look.

I cleaned it up, shot it and dang the thing looks almost new now. I think the Chinese used some good steel in the production of these banned pistols. :)
 
Okay, I'll play...

Mine wasn't as beat up as the ones above. The before images don't do the rust and pitting justice. It was one sick puppy, but mechanically sound.

Before...

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After Fords restored it...

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Great thread - I'm really enjoying the photos and stories!


highpower3006 - that 45 was certainly a great "catch". I'm sure you'd love to know the history of it. Do you suppose that just "fell overboard" or was possibly "thrown" after being used in a crime?
 
highpower3006 - that 45 was certainly a great "catch". I'm sure you'd love to know the history of it. Do you suppose that just "fell overboard" or was possibly "thrown" after being used in a crime?
Click to expand...

I bought it off of the fellow that fished it out. At first he thought he had a big catfish, they don't fight, just drag along the bottom. Obviously, it had been in the water for years, so it is very unlikely that there is any way to trace it at this late date. It did have a full magazine in it, so I am inclined to think that it fell overboard, rather than something more nefarious.
 
Stainless steel can certainly rust and corrode !!
That problem of rust under the grips can be eliminated. Moisture is drawn under the grips from capillary action .Clean the grip frame , apply RIG grease or a silicone grease to fill the space , then replace the grips.
 
texagun, what did they do, leave that poor revolver on a boat on the ocean?

I have a couple of C96 Broomhandles that came out of China. When I got them they had a fine coating of rust. A bit of cleaning revealed guns with zero finish and some pitting

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Here's my contribution - "THE AMERICAN DOUBLE ACTION REVOLVER" (spelled out in large block letters on the top strap) by H&R, circa 1883. .38 caliber and just about the size of a J-frame. This gun was never buried, it only looks like it. They're worth a few hundred $ in good shape which this one obviously is NOT. I guess they were the Saturday Night Specials of their day. Reloads are accomplished by pulling the spindle pin and taking the cylinder out the right side. It's DA only (of course) and the action still works. Not a bad little 1880s carry gun IMHO.

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